The Irish translation is taken from Archbishop John MacHale’s 1842 work A Selection of Moore’s Melodies Translated into the Irish Language.
English
AIR – The Red Fox.
I.
Let Erin remember the days of old,
Ere her faithless sons betray’d her;
When Malachi wore the collar of gold,
Which he won from her proud invader;
When her kings with standard of green unfurl’d,
Led the Red-Branch Knights to danger; –
Ere the emerald gem of the western world
Was set in the crown of a stranger.
II.
On Lough Neagh’s bank as the fisherman strays,
When the clear cold eve’s declining,
He sees the round towers of other days
In the wave beneath him shining.
Thus shall memory often, in dreams sublime,
Catch a glimpse of the days that are over;
Thus, sighing, look through the waves of time
For the long-faded glories they cover.
Irish
FONN – An Sionnach Ruadh.
I.
Bidheadh cuimhne aig Eirinn air na laethibh, do bhí,
Sul do bhriath ‘a clan féin í le feill-bheart,
Nuair bhí iodh de ‘n ór-bhuidhe air bhrághaid Mhaoilsheaclainn an righ,
Do bhuaidh ó’n namh, bhí uailleach as all-neart;
‘Nuair sgaoil a righthe brat glas na Craobh-ruaidh’
Tabhairt a laochra chum catha go claonmhar,
Sul do facas reóide Eireann aig dealradh go nuadh
A g-cróin-fhleasg an t-Sasanaigh treunmhair.
II.
Trá bhídheas air loch Néachaidh an t-iasgaire aig siúbhal
Le linn soluis lae bheith aig faonadh,
Cidheann sean-chloigthigh shios, nuair bhídheas go h-úmhal
Air bhruach na linne aig claonadh;
Mar rúd, tré aisling bhídhmuid aig fághail
Lag-leus air na laethibh tá a g-cianta,
‘S go brónach aig dearcadh air a n-glóir faoi sgáil,
Ta báithte faoi throm-thona bliadhanta.